Stick a fork in me cause I'm done!

Short and sweet version: I'm so stressed out from work right now, it's not even funny! It makes other aspects of my life feel wrongly tainted and horribly wasted. Last night my plan was to go to the gym *if* I got off work on time. I stayed 30 minutes overtime and all I could think about was eating Pho on my couch. Gym, eh.... no thanks! If I didn't have my husband and my dog, life would certainly be unhappy!

And 4,031 is the magic number...

Post Holiday Tuesdays at work are the worst days ever. Ever. I work in Veterinary Supply Distribution as an in building customer service person for our sales staff. Well, that's what I try to do but most of the time I end up chest deep in the distribution side of the job. I fill, verify, and pack orders all while trying to make it to the phone within 60 seconds and remain happy and slightly perky. If it sounds like a lot, its because it is a lot! But don't tell my coworkers that I actually work because if they truly knew (and appreciated) how much I work, they wouldn't have anyone to bad mouth anymore! (it's a good thing the sales staff appreciates my hard work because otherwise, my job would be so sad.)

We had 4,031 product lines ship out yesterday (hence, the magic number) and I didn't get home until after 7:30. It's a lot of work, sweat, and silent sobbing. For reference purposes, we generally have 3,200 lines on a normal Monday and 2,700 product lines on a normal Tuesday. This is one of the main reasons I was stressing about my blisters because it's a huge day and everyone has to be at work to work their asses off. And we did.

Speaking of blisters, mine are almost gone! Yesterday was the first day I've been able to wear shoes without support from bandages. But now, the backs of my knees hurt a little bit and I'm a little concerned. When I have extra time (and don't feel like wasting it on blogging), I'm going to need to look into good knee stretches and strengthening exercises. I know that I will end up needing to strengthen everything from my hip down but I could at least focus on what will help my knees the most. Good thing I have a gym membership!

And another thing! I feel like I have so many topics to cover because I have so many things on my mind! *grin* I am going to rent a dress from RenttheRunway.com. We have a wedding to go to this summer and two weddings in the fall and I don't have dresses that fit me. This is such a great thing because they are all TOO BIG! I'd love to go dress shopping but I don't want to fill my closet with more clothes that may or may not fit in a couple of months. You know... I could lose weight, my waist could shrink, my waist could expand, my belly could expand *wink*, I could magically grow three inches (not likely but certainly welcome!), or I my legs could magically end up looking so great that I want to show them off by wearing a shorter style dress! So many possibilities! But yes, I'm going to see if Rent The Runway works and if it does, it'll be my go to for special occasion wear!

My Pinterest "My Style" board... is here!

Dear Feet, I have just one thing I'd like to say...

I went on my first post-half run yesterday. It wasn't as successful as I was hoping it would be and my feet are really sore this morning. I guess this is to be expected, I was just hoping it wouldn't be like this.

Slightly over a week ago, I made it 13.1 miles without an ounce of digestive upset. Yesterday, I could hardly make it half a mile without my stomach jumping and churning. I ran through it but had to cut my run short by a mile so I could run home and go to the bathroom. It makes me so frustrated because I'm not sure how I can prevent this from happening. Do I need to be more hydrated? Do I need to eat differently? Do I need to wear adult diapers when I run? I can stand the first two questions being answered with a "yes" but the last one would be going too far. Plus, my pants are too form fitting for me to get away with wearing anything other than underwear. This problem will get fixed.

I added Countdown Widgets for my half marathons on the right side of my blog and it looks like I have 89 days to train for Santa Rosa. I'm actually thinking about jumping behind a marathon pace group since they are following the same loop. I don't think there is a rule against it and it may just be helpful for me to be paced. One other positive about going to Sierra Running Company will be my ability to ask about local running groups. I should probably join one.

It's true, I think I'm turning into an addict.

I did it and I can't believe it. I haven't even been on another run yet and I've already signed up for TWO MORE half marathons!

Santa Rosa Marathon & Half
Two Cities Marathon & Half

The Santa Rosa Half is in my other hometown and it is at the end of August. The Two Cities Half is in Fresno and it is at the beginning of November. I've heard great things about both races and I'm really looking forward to training and beating my time from the California Classic.

Speaking of the California Classic, ta-dah! Here's my picture!

Running like a champ. Facebook caption is: "Running AND Smiling?! Inconceivable!"

I am giving myself another week to get my shit together before I start back on a training program. I figure I can do some short runs in the shoes I have but I need to go get a new pair sooner than later. I'm planning a trip to the Sierra Running Company in Fresno. You know, I've spent so much time worrying about going to the gym and having people see me on a treadmill and now I'm going to walk into a store and run on a treadmill in front of everyone. I don't consider myself a runner and I'm going to go into a store where all the employees are runners. I know they will give me good, priceless advice but it will still feel weird.

I also want to get back on the eating plan I was on a couple of months ago. I've really let that go but my metabolism has been so ramped up that I haven't seen my weight yo-yo back. Plus, I feel like complaining some more about only being able to eat 17 grapes at a time. *smile*

My short, but really sweet trip to San Francisco

Big Rec Ball Park, Golden Gate Park

I love having the chance to go home, even if it's just for a short time. This time, I went with my best friend, Amanda and we were there for about eight hours. It was a beautiful day and we found parking everywhere we decided to go. We did a lot of walking and I took a lot of mental notes of where I'd like to run next time I'm in the city. (Honestly, I have no idea what is wrong with me. I've never liked running and in the last few months I've had the desire to run from point A to point B and back. I'm slightly scared of myself. Oh the things a half marathon will do to your mind!)

Anyway, our first stop was right in the thick of my old neighborhood. We went to Gordo Taqueria for lunch and ate at Big Rec. Usually there is some kind of baseball game happening but yesterday, we watched a ton of people flying kites. I'm really jealous because in all my attempts, I've never been a successful kite flyer.

Yo-Yo Competition... what?!

From there we walked to the Music Concourse. This is the area between the Academy of Sciences and the De Young Museum. I haven't been to either of those places since they reopened but the outsides of the buildings are pretty amazing. I was really surprised because we got to witness a legitimate yo-yo competition. These kids were pretty serious competitors and found that I was really jealous AGAIN because I've never been able to yo-yo either! I wanted to snap some pictures of these kids but I didn't want to seem like a creeper. On the way out of the concourse, we stopped in the Japanese Tea Garden for some photo ops. We watched a proposal in the middle of the Tea Garden and it was so amazingly cute.

Rustic Bridge (to Huntington Falls and Strawberry Hill)

Next stop was Stow Lake, one of my all time favorite places in Golden Gate Park. I roller bladed here as a kid with my friend Kristi, we would stop at the boat house and buy ice cream, and we would get in trouble for roller blading on the side walks. It would always end with a lot of laughing and silliness. A lot of places in the park have changed but I found that Stow Lake stayed the same. The rustic bridge is my favorite bridge and I've always wanted to get a good picture of it. We went across the bridge, went through the Chinese Pavilion, and climbed the stairs to the top of Huntington Falls (a waterfall that has been there since 1891ish). We didn't go all the way to the top of the hill but the views are still cool from the top of the falls.

Before we went back to the car, we stopped at the Children's Playground because I was hoping to catch a ride down the cement slides. There were too many people, it didn't seem right for an adult without a kid to run to the top of the slide and wait in line for a turn. *sad face*

Sutro Bath Ruins

We drove down to the beach and caught an unexpected glimpse of the USS Iowa leaving the bay for the last time. It was amazing but I didn't get any pictures. We did walk to the Windmill then we drove up to the Cliff House. We went down the hill to the Sutro Bath Ruins but were really hoping to get some Land's End photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. When that didn't work, we hiked it back to the car and drove down to the other side of Land's End. And score, we got great pictures of the bridge.

Happy 75th Anniversary to the Golden Gate Bridge!

After we got the pictures we wanted, we went to my Grandma's House to converse and visit. Then we repeated the process at my Aunt's house. I love stopping to visit my family and I need to do it more often! All in all, it was an amazing jaunt through SF.

I'm really glad to be home tonight though because my husband is making Ribs on the BBQ. Diet? What diet?

Had to stop at Fuddrucker's on the way home for a Buffalo Burger.... don't you judge me!

They call me Tenderfoot, Melanie Tenderfoot.

So yesterday, I finally found a way to wear my shoes without them touching my blisters while staying within the (strict) guidelines of  the work dress code for footwear. The bad news, it only works if I'm not walking. Once I start walking everything kind of goes in the crapper. I really need to get this figured out before next Tuesday when we are slammed with post holiday orders and I'm required to run around like a dying chicken.

I am walking fine without shoes and I hope that trend continues because my bestie, Amanda and I are planning to go to San Francisco for a girls weekend. I was hoping to spend most of our time walking but flip flops are less than ideal to walk in for long periods of time. Plus, it is going to be a cool 57 degrees and I can't look like TOO much of a tourist in my hometown.

I have a list of "To-Do"'s for our trip this weekend but other than that, it will probably be a free for all..

1) Breakfast at Art's
2) Lunch or Dinner at Gordo Taqueria
3) Haight-Ashbury
4) Children's Playground (cement slides! woot!)
5) Buffalo
6) Windmills
7) Japanese Tea Garden
8) Stow Lake

I really wanted to stay away from highly populated touristy areas but I'm not sure if Amanda wants to see anything in particular. (Here's to hoping she reads this blog posts and thinks on it for a bit!) It's kind of a tour of the San Francisco that I know and love but totally up for some improvisation . I wanted to hop the Muni for transportation but I just found out that the Adult fare is $2 for a single ride with one transfer ticket. Ew.  When I was a kid, I paid 50 cents to get on the bus. Perks of childhood I suppose!

I guess it is time to get ready for work. Dear sneakers, please be nice to me today! Thank you, XOXO, Melanie Tenderfoot.

And in other news...

(The results for the marathon were posted and my time WAS slower than I expected by several minutes. That's OK because I didn't finish last AND I finished! And you know what, I have shocked all the naysayers with the fact that I finished. So there, spootheads!)

Recovery, Day 3. From everything I've read, the day of the half marathon is considered the first day of recovery so if you are questioning my math, now you know how I'm counting. I'm really counting down the days until I can get out and start training for my next half marathon. I have a personal record to beat and you better believe that I will be beating it!

In my current condition, I feel like I will never run again but I want to so, so badly! I am sore from my knees down and when I analyze this, it makes me feel like from my knees up, I conditioned myself correctly. My feet are the sorest part of my body and I think it is because of my shoes and socks (both of which are being replaced, STAT). I have HUGE blisters on the backs of my heels that have already popped without prompting from me. And to make blister matters worse, I got two more at work yesterday because I was trying to hard to keep my shoes from rubbing against my heels. Serves me right because I ended up getting blisters on my longest toe on both feet (my second toe, BTW). The heel blisters are keeping me from walking correctly because when they are exposed to air, they dry out and I can't bend my foot without pain from crackly skin. All I can say is that I will be reading up on preventing blisters and I am pretty resolved to never have them this badly again.

My Dad told me after I finished the half that if someone had asked him 10 years ago, "Do you think your Daughter will ever do a half marathon?" that he would have told them that he knew I was capable but he didn't think it was going to be an addition to my bucket list anytime soon. I laughed because 10 years ago, when I was 16, I did everything in my power to get out of running. I hated it and I mean I truly despised it. But I do not have any memory of being prepared to run. We were always just told to start running and I am 100% certain that caused my hatred. We were expected to just do it and we were graded on how many laps we could complete. That is not the way to run, I mean after all you have to walk before you can run, right?